I would certainly have to put the WWII German army in contention. After the war I was with a former German officer that had been on both east and west fronts, and one day over an American beer he said I wonder if you Americans could have stood up to the Russians. Later I wondered if he was touting the Russian army as better than the German?
I think the Japanese had one attribute they had a tendency to not surrender, and that made for some problems they didn't have in Europe. Still the Germans did have the 88's.

I would certainly have to put the WWII German army in contention. After the war I was with a former German officer that had been on both east and west fronts, and one day over an American beer he said I wonder if you Americans could have stood up to the Russians. Later I wondered if he was touting the Russian army as better than the German?
I think the Japanese had one attribute they had a tendency to not surrender, and that made for some problems they didn't have in Europe. Still the Germans did have the 88's.

Click to expand...

A country the size of Oregon overran all of Europre and Russia to Mosow - not bad...

Germany started strong because it had a lead in weapons development. Most European armies were little changed from the tactics and weaponry used in WWI. Make a list of the countries invaded and it is obvious that the victories were hollow. They lost the tech lead and got their asses handed to them. Superior airpower ultimately turned the tide in the Allies favor on the Western front. The brutal Russian winter had the same effect on the Eastern front.

When Germany invaded the USSR, June 20, 1941, it was the best equipped, best lead, best trained, had the highest morale, and the finest tactics employed in the world. The problem lay with simple numbers, they could surround and defeat a Soviet Army of 300,000 men one day and the next day they would be up against another Soviet army of 500,000 men. In the meantime, those best in the world German soldiers started going home in body bags in drips and drabs. This is exactly the same problem the United States would face with its force of Navy Seals up against a Chinese Army of two million gunfighters.
Adding to and compounding the German Army's lack of manpower against the vast, almost infinite manpower rersources of the Soviet Union was Adolph Hitler's narcissism. Hitler was under the impression that he was a military genius, partly due to his early successes in the war and developed a distrust of his Generals, in large part due to the Generals learned caution in battle. His narcissism played a major part in the German Sixth Army's disaster at Stalingrad. Von Paulus requested permission to fight his way out of the 'Kessel' while Von Manstein wanted to fight his way in to help retrieve the trapped Von Paulus. Hitler refused. An entire Army of 250,000 men dissappeared from the German Army's order of battle, along with their Hungarian and Romanian Allies and with their supplies and equipment. There are other instances of Hitler's behavior that amounted to pure military stupidity. Failure to finish Britain off when they were nearly done with to turn his attention on the Soviet Union. Two front wars are never a good idea. Declaring war on the United States while Japan had declined to declare war on the USSR in return and his persistant tendency to refuse to give up any ground in order to preserve his forces. It was always stand your ground, fight to the last man or the last round of ammunition. Luftwaffe Commander Goering's drug addled brain didn't help matters when supporting the army either. He had promised Hitler he could resupply the besieged army at Stalingrad but failed in massive order. The Army needed 500 tons of supplies a day, but the best Goering could accomplish was 80 tons.
Hitlers squandering of the German Army can probably be best summed up with an event that took place on Pelieliu Island during that campaign, September, 1944 to January, 1945.
Marine Commander Chesty Puller was berating the Army Commander for not being aggressive enough assaulting Japanese positions to which the Army Commander replied "I'm sparing with my men, but lavish with my ammunition"
Unknown to both the men, the overall commander of the operation, Marine General Roy Geiger was standing in the back of the tent while all this was taking place. General Geiger replied 'That sounds like the best advice I've heard all day. You can't take enemy positions with dead Marines"
It was as much human arrogance and stupidity that led to the destruction of the German Army as it was The Soviet and American Armies.

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